Whistles in Haunted Woods
by severusidol
Summary: Pippin awakes to someone staring at him. Merry is acting weird. Pippin gets scared. Set while Strider and the Hobbits are travelling to Rivendell. Complete


Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters in this fic because they all belong to the one and only JRR Tolkien. The "eerie woods" are mine though.

This is my first fanfic so I hope you all enjoy my bored ramblings.

I have read the books but I cant remember the details of this point in the story, so there is probably something that doesn't match up, but oh well.

Thanks to Unhobbity Hobbit and Daisy Brambleburr for their very helpful reviews.

It had been another hard day of traveling towards Rivendell. Aragorn had led the Hobbits through tough terrain and had let them have few rests. But it was over now. They had found some strange woods to camp in.

They were full of strange trees that looked waxy to the eye, but were more liquid-like to the touch. The hobbits had been advised not to touch these trees if they could. The ground of the forest was covered in bright moss that was slippery but provided a fairly comfortable sleeping space. So they spread out their travel beds and took to sleep as soon as possible.

Pippin awoke to the feeling of someone staring at him from behind. He rolled over to his back and saw Merry gazing blankly at him.

"What?" Pippin asked, "Why are you staring at me like that?"

Merry did not answer but he gestured to Pip to come over to him. So Pippin got up and walked over to his best friend. Then Merry said, "Let's take a walk."

Pippin nodded and strolled along with his friend in between the odd looking trees and over the small stream to the left of the camp. He almost slipped a few times but Merry always caught him before he fell. Very suddenly, Merry grabbed Pip's small hand and pulled him closer. Then in less than a second he closed the distance between them and was kissing him.

Pippin knew something was wrong about this but he didn't pull away. He couldn't anyways because Merry had such a tight grip on him that it was quite impossible. With a jolt of pain, Pippin realized that Merry was now digging his fingers hard into his back, and his extremely long nails didn't help either. With huge effort, Pippin pushed Merry away from him.

"What were you doing!" Pippin yelled as Merry stumbled backwards into a tree.

"I kissed you, that's all." Merry said shyly and innocently.

"Alright I can sort of understand that, I knew you'd always taken a

fancy to me... But why were you hurting me?" Pippin asked sincerely.

"I- I was? H- how?" Merry asked.

"Your damn long nailed fingers were digging into my back!"

"Oh." Merry gasped quickly.

Many things started happening all at once. A loud whistling sounded and several animals and birds were scattering everywhere. An evil look was starting to come over Merry's face. He started to hunch his back over and whimper.

Pippin slowly backed away from Merry in fear, but as soon as he had taken a few steps, merry had pounced on him, pulling his hair and biting his arms.

Pippin awoke to the feeling of someone staring at him from behind. He rolled over to his back and saw Merry looking right at him.

"W- why are you staring at me like that?" Pippin asked with a scared tone in his voice.

Merry did not answer, but gestured for Pippin to come closer.

"No,' Pippin whispered "I'm quite comfortable right over here."

"Lets go for a walk." Merry suggested

"Nah, I'd like to stay here. These woods scare me and I wouldn't want to upset Strider if he finds we're gone." Said Pippin trying to sound more confident than he actually felt.

Merry didn't speak another word, but he kept staring at the form of a scrunched up Pippin.

Pippin didn't want to turn his back on Merry for he knew what was most likely to happen, so he just scrunched himself up in a ball and waited. He was ready for the attack.

Nothing happened for a few minutes and Merry continued to gaze blankly at Pippin. Suddenly, a shrill whistle pierced the silence and Pippin could hear the scampering of little feet and the flapping of many wings. An evil look started to cover Merry's once innocent face and he started to hunch his back over and whimper.

Pippin sat bolt upright in his travel bed, sweat pouring down his petrified face. "Strider!" he yelled "Strider, help!"

Aragorn and the other two hobbits awoke suddenly. Aragorn caught sight of Merry and ran towards him. Merry tried to attack him, but being a man he was much too big to attack alone. Aragorn pinned Merry to the ground, straddling him. Merry was now drooling uncontrollably and flailing his legs trying to break free of the larger mans hold.

"Pippin" Strider called "Fetch me some water and a piece of cloth."

Pippin hastened to follow Aragorns orders. He grabbed Sam's cooking pot and filled it water from the small stream. He then tore a piece of fabric from his scarf and handed both items to Strider.

Aragorn got the cloth wet and dabbed it on Merry's face. All night, Aragorn had kept the Hobbit pinned to the ground calming him down. Pippin, Sam and Frodo couldn't help but go back to sleep for they had become very tired on the journey towards Rivendell.

When the hobbits awoke the next morning, Aragorn had Merry sitting up wrapped in a blanket and eating an apple. Though he looked all right to the other Hobbits, they still stayed in bed pretending to be asleep until noon when Aragorn felt Merry was well enough to travel and they all packed up.

The atmosphere returned to normal as soon as he company had left the eerie woods and Aragorn had explained to them what the occurrences of last night had been all about.

"These woods are ancient and haunted. I felt something as soon as we entered. But I was not strong enough to detect exactly what it was. I assume, Pippin that you received a dream prophesying this."

"Yes, I did. How did you know Strider?" enquired Pippin quietly.

"The strange behaviour is always preceded by a dream and a shrill whistling sound in woods like these. So I can also assume that there was a whistle?"

"Yes there was" Pippin confirmed. Nobody at this point had even looked at Merry except for Aragorn.

"Now, we must all understand," Strider continued, "that this outburst of madness was not Merry's fault. He should still be treated with the same respect and courtesy you showed him yesterday."

This new statement was met by a huge dog pile on Merry.

"We love you, you great buffoon!" Pippin exclaimed. "You know what, Merry?"

"What?"

"I'm hungry!"


End file.
